Hoover Dam

Saturday, July 31, 1999 - 9:00am by Lolo
33 miles and 0.75 hours from our last stop

Travelogue

Kalchbrenner Family at Hoover DamKalchbrenner Family at Hoover DamAs great fans of Chevy Chase's Vacation movies, we pride ourselves on our Griswold-like vacations and just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take our "dam" pictures and stop at the "dam" gift shop at the Hoover Dam.

We drove across the very impressive bridge over the dam, entering into Arizona and a different time zone. We then parked the car and walked back into Nevada to the Visitor Center, making sure to spend time with our legs straddled across both time zones, advertising the fact that we were novice travelers. But who cares. It's great to be unjaded and awed by new experiences.

We were fortunate to be able to take the hardhat tour, which took us into the bowels of the dam through the tunnels into the power plant and control rooms. Remember the scene in Vacation when Clark wandered off from the tour and wound up hanging from the side of the dam. That's the tour we took except we boringly stayed with the tour group. Today unfortunately, because of security concerns since September 11, these tours inside the dam are no longer offered and have been replaced by the Discovery Tour which explains things from the top of the dam.

Description

The Hoover Dam is located in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas at the Nevada-Arizona border. It rises more than 700 feet above the Colorado River and is considered to be one of the greatest engineering works in history.

The Dam was built during the Depression by thousands of men who came to the Black Canyon to find work to feed their families. It took less than 5 years to complete what was the largest dam of its time. Now, more than 60 years later, Hoover Dam still stands as a world-renowned structure. The dam is a National Historic Landmark and has been rated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering Wonders.

In 1937, the Bureau of Reclamation began conducting tours through the Hoover Dam and Power Plant. Today, more than a million visitors a year take the tour and millions more drive across the dam.

Unfortunately, since 9/11, the hardhat tours into the dam are no longer offered. However, there is a Discovery Tour which takes you onto the top of the dam and explains things from there.

»

Las Vegas

Thursday, July 29, 1999 - 9:00am by Lolo
43 miles and 0.75 hours from our last stop - 2 night stay

Travelogue

Las Vegas will always hold a special place in our hearts because it was our first stop after taking possession of our new Lazy Daze motor home. Although we were new to RVing, we had a strong feeling that Circusland RV Park, which was actually located right on the strip, was not your typical campground. The kids were in heaven. We spent an enjoyable afternoon at the campground pool taking advantage of the conveniently located laundry room right next to it.

When it cooled off in the evening, we set off to walk the 3 miles of the strip to the MGM hotel where we were to meet our friends. Normally a 3 mile walk with our then 8 and 10-year-old boys would have resulted in some degree of whining, but there was just too much to distract them. We saw the battle and sinking of pirate ships at Pirates Cove, the Atlantis show at Caesars, and much, much more. And all this for free. It fit in very nicely with our budget.

My favorite show of all was the beautiful dancing fountains at the Bellagio Hotel. We didn't even know that there was a show, but had just stopped to take a break and admire the very refreshing looking lake in front of the hotel. The next thing we knew, Andrea Bocelli started singing and the fountains in the lake came alive in a magnificent display of choreographed dancing and lights. We were totally mesmerized by the breath-taking show. Herb and I just looked at each other in astonishment. I think I broke the mood when I asked him if he could do the same thing with the RV poop hoses.

The next morning our friends arrived in their rental motor home enthusiastically ready for an RV experience. We spent the morning at the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, where we were entertained by some pretty bizarre exhibits, and the afternoon at Wet and Wild Water Park, right across the street from our campground. The kids and dads went on some adrenaline pumping slides while the moms floated in tubes in a river that encircled the park.

We then said goodbye to Las Vegas and headed towards Zion National Park to experience some wonders that were a little more natural than those in Las Vegas.

Description

I'm not even going to attempt to describe Las Vegas--there are plenty of guidebooks that are entirely devoted to that.

However, I'm not sure that everyone knows that Las Vegas has become a great family destination and that there is actually an RV park right on the strip. Circusland RV Park is located on the north end of the strip right by Circus Circus Hotel and Casino and across the street from Wet and Wild Water Park. Although the sites themselves are on a parking lot, there is a nice pool and, after all, you are right on the strip in walking distance to everything..

»
Syndicate content